The Lesson Book

Reading has always been both a hobby and strength of mine and is now a skill that I sometimes take for granted.  I do, however, occasionally think back to when I learned to read.  I was five years old and one night after dinner my dad told me he was going to teach me how to read.  He had bought this book that contained 100 lessons on how to read, which became known in my family simply as “The Lesson Book.”  So with the lesson book in hand, my dad and I sat on my bed and began the first lesson.  This routine of completing a lesson or two after dinner continued.  Rather than going to watch TV, as many families would do, my dad spent night after night sitting next to me teaching me how to read.  This continued for one hundred consecutive nights until we were done, and during this time I grew to love reading.  I still remember finishing the last lesson by reading to my mom and dad.  I still remember how proud they were.  I still remember the sense of accomplishment I had when I started school and was busy reading novels that were several hundred pages long, while the majority of my classmates struggled pronouncing words longer than four letters.  Reading has been important to me ever since.  I feel immense gratitude to my parents for teaching me this skill at such an early age, as I know believe reading is one of the most important things someone can learn.